1.Please, tell me who I am talking to.

Hello! Daniel, the guy who produces all the screams in John Doe. My humble person is also responsible for getting in touch with outside world in general. So I am the bloke who responds to emails and posts myspace stuff.

2.Why did you pick a name such as JOHN DOE? What´s the deeper meaning?

First of all, let me explain the term to those who may not know it. Basically, the term is used for naming all the male figures whose true name is unknown or withheld. Chiefly it is used by police, medical services, and in all legal and juridical stuff. Name John Doe also appears on graves of people who were not identified. This term may be also used for average citizen. John Doe is quite commonly used in movie business. The main evil character in 'Seven' with Brad Pitt was called John Doe. The idea of naming the band John Doe was in our heads for quite some time, but at the very beginning let say the band name was not approved so we had some kind temporary name which became permanent one. For us this term expresses some kind of desire of recognition and becoming someone more than just an average John Doe. Everyone struggles to do something with their lives to make it more important. The main thing about John Doe is to not finish as a John Doe - an average band forgotten by everyone.


3.Please, tell our readers your musical influences.

Influences? Well, there are five people in the band so there is way too much stuff to name. Basically, the band was started as a part of hc/punk scene and I hope will always be a part of it. When we started rehearsals Sunrise was of the top bands in Poland and there was something like first wave of metalcore in our hometown. We followed the current - so pretty much that's why we play this kind of music. The things that differs us from other bands are that we are not changing our style because the scene tendencies has changed. It is quite noticeable that metalcore is not as popular as it used to be, but we don't care. We like it and John Doe will always remain metalcore band. Obviously the band will be progressing and trying to develop some own stuff but still do not expect some radical changes. But coming back to the question, if you want me to name few bands that influenced us at the very beginning we must mention Heaven Shall Burn, Sunrise, Fear My Thoughts, Catharsis (!!!), His Hero Is Gone. There are loads of many other influences obviously. Everyone of us is slightly different. I was much more into punk, Lukas our guitarist was more metal, the same thing with our drummer, Wojtek the bass player was old school hc guy. For quite a long time we were trying to find compromise and create something that will be some kind of golden mean. The basic idea is that for every one of us the band must be a fun. As far as let say lyrical stuff is concerned we need to mention Franz Kafka works. He was some kind of my guru and he is the one to blame for all my first lyrics ever written for John Doe.

4.How do you work on songs and lyrics?

Process of creation is rather standard. First music than lyrics. This is much easier for me as a lyric writer to first hear the music. Then I am trying to come up with the lyrics that may fit in the climate of music. Sometimes I have some general concept of the text but finishing it takes me usually hell lot of time.

5.What was this year´s best record, in your opinion?

For me definitely new Converge album is a major blast. Heaven Shall Burn have done quite a good job as well. We are getting every month so many new albums that it is very very hard to follow everything. Also some new interesting stuff was released on polish scene. I was quite impressed by Fall Behind debut album, Alienacja has also recorded an astonishing album 'Blades Shall Speak'.

6.How is the music scene in Poland?

Well, Polish scene has changed very much in recent 5 years. When we started the band everything was much different. Nowadays, the scene has become much more pro with all the positive and negative aspects. 5 years ago everything was much more into DIY etiquette. Another thing is that 5 years ago main music carrier of music was tape, now there is only one label that is releasing stuff on tapes. For sure in recent years hard core has become much more popular and more accessible to people from outside. What is happening on polish hc/punk scene at the mom? Well, fortunately quite a lot although some things are pretty much rubbish and frustrating. Finally foreign bands have started to come over here. So we don't have to go to Germany for instance to see all the big bands. There is couple of really good young bands but unfortunately very few labels interested in investing in them. Problem of polish scene at the mom is that quite large number of hard core kids has moved out to UK or Ireland so almost every polish band had or has problems with completing line-up. But thanks God there is still some people willing to be in a band and what is more important people are coming at the shows at large.

7.Where can interests buy a record of you?

Matthias from Village Kids Records has done an awesome job so the CD is pretty much available all round the world. You can get it directly from VKR, there is no problem to buy the stuff in online shops in Germany, Poland, Japan. It is also available from Surprise Records in US. In the next few months our CD will be available for kids in Russia.

8.Is there a new released planned?

Well at the mom we have some general concept of our full lenght. We even have a working title 'Death Shall Have No Dominion'. We have recorded till today one DIY released demo CD, now the split with 5 our songs so it is high time to record a Full Lenght. We should be heading to the studio at the very beginning of the 2008. But at the mom it is really distant future so we are more focused on playing shows. After almost 6 months break we are coming back to playing shows. We just fucking can't wait.

9.How did you come to "FEAR THE ELEMENTS"?

This was a total coincidence. I have for some reason contacted Sebastian who is the editor of widely respected German E-zine called Listen-To-It Network. He is also guitar player in End Is Forever. He asked me if we are interested in getting into international cooperation. Considering that we had some new stuff ready to record we said: 'Yeah! Why not?' We had some problems with booking the recording studio but hopefully we have managed to find suitable one and one month after the proposal we are recording the stuff. That's how it happened and we are more than happy to be a part of VKR family and part of the split.

10.What do you like most about this sampler?

First of all I like the general concept. We are getting 3 young bands. They are not rookies, but still they are not widely know yet. Plus one mega star from Japan. I like the idea of cooperation and the fact that all the bands are supporting each other. Every band with a help of label creates a net of influences which helps to promote other three bands. It is really amazing thing, that this CD being so much professional is very close to DIY ideas. Our example shows that you don't need BIG label to release good music and make a good promotion for it. All that you need is a group of people crazy about hard core. So we are proud to be a part of it.